Hello! I'm back again.
There isn't much I could say about how my week has been, just extremely busy :( The only thing I guess worth mentioning is that I got stuck in a fire stairwell for 15min in the hospital. THEY HAD NO HANDLES ON THE OTHER SIDE, ONLY SECURITY SCANNERS. As a student, I don't have my own scanner... I had to call the front desk of the department I'm interning in on my mobile to help get me out haha very embarassing. I got locked out of my department by accident, had to call the department front desk AGAIN to let me back in. I got hit by the automatic doors, the big ones on the wards used to stop patients from absconding/escaping. Patient with dementia was following me on my way out of the wards, so I had to redirect her back to a nurse before I opened the doors to leave. YEP.
Thanks for reading my new story! I hope it's exciting and you want to read more :)
On with the show!
Chapter 2 - Dark Guild Attack
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROOOOOOAAAR!" A stream of fire blazed across the town square.
There was the unmistakable fire of fury deep in the pits of Natsu's belly. What the hell were the fucking Dark Guild bastards doing in Magnolia?! He had no idea which guild they came from. But fuck that! They. Will. Be. Fried. To. A. Crisp.
"Glass Make! Fractured Soul!"
Natsu dodged and back flipped just in time for an onslaught magically formed glass shards hurtling towards him. That guy still had magic power in him after a beating and a Fire Dragon's Roar? Heh, not for long anyway. Perfect time to get revved up! Just as Natsu landed back on his feet, a stray glass nicked him across the face.
"You fuckers are going to pay for all this" Natsu growled. The stupid grins on their faces was starting to really annoy the hell out of him.
"So what? It's too late now. You can't stop us!" yelled back the dark guild mage who attacked. He was a fat wanker in Natsu's eyes and his short and pudgy limbs looked thick enough for a roast spit. His ugly sneer made him see red and his was in need with a handshake to the face with his foot.
"Yeah, it's too late! Hyuuk, hyuuk" cackled the second mage. He was taller and lankier and was the dumber looking of the pair. "Our Master ordered us to wreck the library, hyuuk!"
"What the hell?! Johnny, don't tell him anything!" The fat whale smacked the skinny shit over the back of the head in fury, leaving the other to rub his hands over the sore spot dumbly.
"Ehhh… so sorry! I forgot" Johnny whimpered.
"We can't waste our time fighting, we need to take down the rest of the – "
"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"
Natsu charged forward, arms brimming with flames and punched the two mages square in the face. They tumbled all the way across the front of the library, landing in a charred heap. The enraged Fire Dragon Slayer stomped forward and grabbed them both by their collar of the shirts and brought their face millimetres to his enraged own. He had enough of their droll chit-chat. The two defeated mages whimpered in front of the searing heat of the dragon slayers skin. Natsu made sure they could taste the fire.
"You know what? I'm tired of dancing to the same old song" Natsu growled. "I'm gonna make this super clear. Get your butts out of here and back to your Masters before us Fairy Tail mages eat you guys for lunch"
"I'd like t-to see you t-try – "
CRACK!
Natsu swiftly head butted the both of them into the ground. That ought to give them a nasty nightmare. He got ready to charge again, thirsty to look for more Dark Guild mages to pummel.
"Natsu!" he turned around to the sound he instantly recognised.
'Lucy!'
What was she doing here? Was she hurt? Oh right! He forgot. She was supposed to be researching or something in the library. She came running down the stairs of the library front with her celestial keys tight in her grasp. Alarm and anger was written all over her face, eyes widening at chaos around them, slap bang in the peaceful town of Magnolia.
"Lucy, are you ok?"
"What the hell happened here? What's going on?!"
"We're under a dark guild attack, but I'm glad you're here. Let's finish this back-to-back, we'll show 'em Fairy Tail's strength" Natsu grinned from ear to ear and licked his lips. He smashed his fists together relishing in the powerful surge of his magic, a pre-battle ritual that always got his blood pumping.
"What the hell Natsu! Did you do all this?!"
"EH?!"
He didn't understand. Of course he didn't! Lucy gestured her hands angrily at piles of burning rubble and small lit up buildings littering across the town square. It definitely looked like something he would do by accident, but NO! Why the heck would she be concerning herself with blaming him for this and that right now?! Natsu looked around and saw people screaming and children crying, running in all directions out of harm's way. Levy and Juvia were busy trying to calm everyone down for a safe evacuation. The main shopping district was lit up in a brilliant blaze, thick smoke billowing overhead, enough to cloak the sun and cast a nasty shadow over the tops of their heads.
"No way! These dark guild mages are blowing shit up all over the place like they always do!" He called back to her.
He spotted in the distant with his acute eye-sight three other dark guild mages huddled together, ready to ambush Romeo. He locked onto their location.
"FIRE DRAGON'S SWORD HORN!" He lit his body ablaze and bolted in their direction, headbutting all three of them like a meteor ravaging the Earth.
"Natsu!" Romeo flailed around, bewildered from the explosion of flame behind him.
"You alright there, kiddo?" Natsu grinned at him. He dispelled the fire from his body and grabbed Romeo's hand, dragging him to his feet.
"Th-Thanks, I didn't even see them there" said Romeo, wiping the dirt from under his eyes.
"Go help Lisanna, she looks like she could do with a hand" said Natsu, nodding in Lisanna's direction.
"U-uh Yeah!" Romeo waved at the Fire Dragon Slayer before dashing off to assist Lisanna, who was fighting off two female dark guild mages. He would be safe with her.
Natsu sniffed around. Something was terribly off. He had been in the midst of many fights before. Some he was randomly dragged into, most he sought out himself. One thing that always stood out for him was when a fight was stalling. This was definitely a diversion for something. He narrowed his eyes and growled. Oh hell no! Not in his town. He ran back to where Lucy was.
'One of those bastards mentioned taking down the rest of something!'
He needed to beat the answers of one of them to get to the bottom of this before they tore Magnolia apart! Natsu caught up to Lucy. She had utilised the broken water pipes to summon the celestial spirit with the 'resting bitch face', Aquawoman or whatever. She was in the middle of angrily extinguishing the flames created from the explosions, and at the same time crushing the dark guild mages in a tsunami of dirty and muddy water.
'Shit! The roof!'
"LUCY, LOOK OUT!"
It was too late. Natsu had caught the scent in the last second of evil magic high above them from the very top of the library roof. Before he knew it the roof ignited and fiery cracks splintered down the sides, splitting the library walls like tearing silk screens. Burning debris cascaded. Lucy screamed as a burning piece of window sill flung out and grazed her arm. The ground cracked open beneath her and swallowed her left ankle, trapping it tightly as the concrete slab fell back in.
Lucy screamed. Her celestial spirit dived forward and took the brunt of the falling, flaming debris and pushed it to the side with amazing strength. Lucy immediately dispelled her magic, sending her back to the spiritual world in a poof. The last thing he heard was the cackling of crazed wizards from high up, before he was overwhelmed by the blood roaring in his ears. His chest and throat felt tight as he watched.
"LUCY!" He reached his arms out –
"Souten Ni Zase! Ice shatter!"
A blurred figure sped from the burning entrance and sliced a thin sword across the air in no time at all. Natsu's eyes gawked as a roof of ice spewed from the blade's tip, encasing all the burning debris falling meters from on top of them in ice and shattering them into millions of ice crystal.
Holy Igneel! Ice magic?!
The lithe figure stabbed his sword into the ground, freezing it completely in blue ice and it shattered into more ice crystals, effectively freeing Lucy's limp ankle. She was swept up into a bundle. They both disappeared in a flicker and flickered back, way out across the battle field where it was marginally safer.
'Woah! is that speed magic too?!'
Shaking his head from his stupor, Natsu gobbled up all the fire in front of him before leaping backwards away from the tumbling entrance. He poised his muzzle right at the perpetrators on the roof.
"Take this! FIRE DRAGON'S ROOOOAAARR!"
A tornado of fire swooped over the mages on the roof. They crashed down from the top with a deafening scream into the smouldering rubble. Natsu dragged the bodies of Fatso and Stick, and retreated from the tumbling entrance. He reached Lucy and the stranger who saved her, dumping the bodies on the ground before hovering over Lucy, worry and relief etched on his face.
"Hey, calm down" the stranger said to Lucy.
Lucy floundered and gasped and started spluttering about the people trapped inside the building, obviously suffering from a case of whiplash. She gave a high pitched groan and her face screwed up in pain as she looked down to her wounds through clenching eyes. Natsu frowned at the nasty burn and her ankle twisted in an unnatural position.
"Relax. The librarian evacuated everyone through the emergency exit back door. Sit still or you'll aggravate your wounds" said the stranger in a accented but soothing voice.
Lucy shook herself from her harrowing stupor and looked up with tear-filled eyes. "M-My ankle… I think it's-"
"Seal off the area and extinguish the flames!"
Lucy, Natsu and the stranger lifted their heads to the reveille and distant marching. It looked like the council rune knights had arrived and were taking control of the disaster area, preparing to apprehend the dark guild mages on the roof and extinguishing the rest of the fire in an orderly manner. It was about damn time they got here! Natsu relaxed. He suddenly remembered the two bozos and swiftly tied them up with Lucy's whip.
"You and your dark guild buddies here are gonna answer for your crimes..." seethed Natsu. The town centre was destroyed and tonnes of people could have been injured.
Lucy could have been killed!
Red. His vision began hazing over in a scarlet world, before being consumed by something innate. Something instinctual and deadly.
"WHO THE FUCK'S IN CHARGE HERE!?" He roared.
"Kekeke! Wouldn't you l-like to know...y-you'll never defeat us! It's too l-l-late. T-they will-"
"Don't fuck with me, I'm just getting started, WHO'S YOUR MASTER!" he grabbed them by the collar and his face burst into flames.
From the corner of the enraged Salamandar's eyes, he saw Lucy's saviour bringing up his cloak to shield both their bodies from the blinding heat and clucking his tongue in annoyance. Natsu made some effort to simmer down to not accidentally burn Lucy with his bewildering heat, but he was too mad to function properly right now.
"You're going to kill them with your rage before getting any answers" the stranger raised his voice at Natsu "Calm down. The authorities will take care of it. Your friend is coming around" the stranger tried to calm the ball of flames before he incinerated everything within a hundred metres.
Natsu looked over. Lucy looked so badly shaken. Instead his anger increased tenfold from the sight of what could have been Lucy's corpse. How could they?! His comrade so close to dying right in front of him… he could barely speak, he tried to force a sound from his mouth, but the sight of her with that horrible wound on her arm and twisted ankle was just too much for him.
"Your friend needs medical attention"
Natsu snapped out of his rage induced trance and glared at the cloaked figure with a barely contained expression. Fuck, he was right. Lucy's safety came first. Natsu reigned in his searing magic. He caught the scent of the sky maiden near the vicinity.
"Wendy! Over here!" Natsu spied Wendy and waved his arms over, dropping the passed out and 'sun-burnt' black guild mages to the ground.
Seeing Wendy, Charles and Happy running over, he turned to the stranger in question. It took all his willpower to force himself to calm down. He smelt something off about this person. He'd never seen anyone with sickly white hair or green eyes like that before. Weird. But he saved Lucy after all. So he was going to receive his gratitude where it was due.
"Hey, thanks man. I owe you one for saving her" Natsu held out a hand.
The stranger looked surprisingly youthful. He looked at Natsu's hand in question and took it.
"The name's Natsu Dragneel. Haven't seen you around town before"
"Daisuke Hitsugaya is my name. I've only arrived in Magnolia yesterday" he said. He released Lucy's body, letting her rest gently on the ground with a red scarf bundled up like a pillow for her to rest her head on and got up.
"Natsu! Lucy!" Wendy panted and collapsed on her knees next to Lucy. She checked over her injuries and sighed in relief that their comrade's injury was healable.
"Thanks for b-back there… Daisuke, was it?" Lucy offered a grateful smile as she finished coming around, basking in Wendy's healing magic.
The boy named Daisuke suppressed a smile and nodded.
"You're from the library..." said Lucy as she gave a tired smile. She hissed sharply when Wendy knelt down and hovered her hands and slightly touched the sensitive skin, trying to inspect the wound.
"You four over there! We need to ask you some questions" An official rune knight made his way over after the fire had been managed. The front and left side of the library now a smoking pile of rubble, revealing all the charred and shredded books strewn on the cracked floor, and burnt and broken desks, chairs and bookcases, toppled over each. The inside of the library was completed decimated.
"Oh damn. I hate these guys" grumbled Natsu.
"Is this everyone?" Erza re-quipped back to her usual armour.
She lifted her arms above her brows to survey the destroyed town square. It was her duty as a Fairy Tail mage to ensure that her comrades had all the members of Blackheath guild were accounted for and tied up extra tight.That battle sure had been something. That cigarette-eating serpentine bastard was definitely S-Class, but a low level one. Well, now that he was tied up against a tree, magic power spent, she was going to do some of her own interrogation before the council rune knights got their hands on them later. She wiped the blood smears from her arms.
"Alright, you. Speak", Erza grabbed the collar of his vest and jerked him up.
He coughed up blood onto her face. But she was unfazed. "This isn't over, Titania. More of us will come and we will take the Dark Bible!"
"More?" Erza widened her eyes. "More of you Blackheath scum?"
"Keh. No, our alliances. I hate to admit…there are plenty more black guilds…s-s-stronger than us waiting in the shadows…"
More coughing ensued and Erza dropped him back against the tree. She remembered something like this before. The Balam Alliance. There was no chance in hell they would be active again. She and her team made sure they were destroyed years ago. At least partially. The remaining members of the Oracion Seis were sitting in prison and the Grimoire Hearts were obliterated. That left only Tartarus… whom they have yet to encounter.
The Dark bible… Did they mean Zeref's Book? There's no other book a Dark Guild would want.
"You mess with this town and its citizens, all for some God Forsaken book!? You're asking for it from Fairy Tail. We don't take shit from anyone who's messing with our family and home" Erza growled.
He wheezed out a chuckle.
"Here are the rest" Gray the Ice-make wizard threw four other tied up Blackheath wizards against the ground. "These guys weren't as strong as I thought. We made pretty quick work of them" Gray kicked a battered and swollen one in the sides, inducing a moan from the tied up mage.
"We've got a problem, Gray" said Erza "This was only a small operation, apparently there will be more attacks like this in the future"
"What! How come?" Gray yelled incredulously.
Erza crouched down to eye level and balanced her blade at the captor's throat. "Unless you want me to slit your throat now, tell me why you are after Zeref's book"
He continued to sneer at her.
"… All hail Las Noches..!"
He bit onto his lips and activated a spell causing Erza to jump up and swing her blade to guard herself. Just like that, he erupted in a horrible spasm, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and his life was no more.
"Fucking suicidal bastard, what kind of spell was that?" muttered Gray. He rubbed the back of his head and lazily surveyed the scene. He spotted Natsu and Wendy in the distance. "Hey Erza, who's that over there?" Gray pointed to the cloaked figure speaking to Natsu, just off to the side.
Erza glanced in the direction Gray pointed to. No idea. She had never seen those clothes before nor did she recognise anything about them.
"Hmm. Let's go check up on them" she said.
Gray and Erza shortened the distance within a minute. The library was in a shambles and other buildings caught in the blast were being cleaned up by the rune knights looking for any innocent bystanders who didn't make the evacuation. Suspicion crept into Erza's mind. Blackheath was located a fair distance away from Magnolia and she knew there wasn't any significant beef between their two guilds. Blackheath wasn't even that strong of a Dark Guild, but if that serpentine mage was right, they were allied with a bigger and stronger force. This was probably the doing of a large network of Dark Guilds and they were after Zeref's book. Only the most foolish, the most greedy and corrupt mage could dream of conquering the tome. Erza prayed the world would not be teetering on the edge of a knife again, orchestrated by another evil foe.
"Natsu! Lucy! Wendy!" Erza slowed down to a jog and then halted in front of the company with Gray not far behind.
"Hey Erza.. G-Gray.. Meet Daisuke, he's traveling from a-across the East and wants to learn a bit about Fiore. He also... saved me" introduced Lucy whilst struggling to get up with Wendy helping her. She wheezed and Wendy hurriedly instructed her to rest her voice.
The boy named Daisuke nodded distractedly as he stared at the flying and talking cats as if they were the most interesting things in the world. He had moderately spikey white hair, with some covering one of his eyes. They were an interesting shade of green, perhaps teal coloured in the sun. His skin was tanned and his face was round and young looking.
"Great! You guys take care of Lucy, while I take my prisoners back from the knights!" Just as Natsu was about to zoom off, Erza whipped out her hand and smacked his head to the ground.
"Enough! Let them take care of the perpetrators. That's what they are paid for" said Erza. She turned her attention to the boy with shocking white hair. "How do you do? My name is Erza Scarlet" Erza shook his hands in a firm grip.
"Erza! We can't let those bastards get away!" Natsu dug himself out of the crater made by the impact of his head.
"I already have some information Natsu" she said cooly. "You need to calm down"
He was about to yell back but a look from Erza silenced him.
"The name's Gray" Gray shook the boy named Daisuke's hands. They both widened their eyes, as if something passed between the both of them.
"Ho? You are an Ice user?" he inquired.
"Yeah. How did you know?" Gray smirked.
"Because I am as well" he replied.
Natsu chucked a final glare at the prisoners taken by thy Rune Knights and dusted himself off.
"Oh yeah… Hey man, how did you use magic like that? With all the ice. I've never seen a spell cast like that before" said Natsu narrowing his eyes curiously at the sword in Daisuke's grip and pointed to it.
Daisuke lifted the thin sword in his grip "Uh…It's a family technique that was passed down",
"I gotta admit, it looked way cooler than yours Gray" Natsu tittered behind his hands at Gray.
"The fuck – "
"Enough!" Erza boomed "Lucy needs to go to the infirmary and Fairy Tail needs to gather and report back to Master. We have a very big problem on our hands now. Blackheath guild was behind this, although I fear there's other dark guilds working together to cause havoc in Fiore."
"Blackheath huh. That's one name I'm committing to memory" growled Natsu. Erza pinned him with another withering look.
Erza turned to Daisuke "I suppose you need to come with us too since you are now caught up in this mess. Sorry for the bother"
Daisuke shook his head "It's okay, I booked a room in your guild accommodations last night"
"Oh you did? How convenient" Erza smiled "I have a feeling Master is going to have a few questions concerning you"
Daisuke pursed his lips, almost making Erza smirk.
Natsu lifted Lucy up and swung her good arm over his neck "I'm sorry I didn't do anything to help" she said sadly.
"Don't be like that Lucy, it's not like you to beat yourself over for such a small thing like this. Nobody else was hurt" Natsu gave her his famous cheshire grin.
Lucy smiled back. Erza looked towards Daisuke, about to ask him something, but he spoke before she did in a slightly urgent tone.
"I need to grab my gear from the library first, I'll catch up", he zipped away before anyone could say anything and passed the council knights doing a status report at the burnt library site.
He slowly made his way over and under pieces of broken building until he got to where his table and books were supposed to be. He quickly searched and found a familiar strap from under the dust and pieces of brick. He carefully dug some concrete away and tugged his knapsack out. Checking over the contents inside, he was satisfied that nothing was damaged.
Blackheath guild. That name was unfamiliar. It most definitely was not a coincident that this library was destroyed. If anything Las Noches had found out what his family was up to and had thrown a wrench into the mechanical gears of this quest. It had to be. Family Intel found out that Las Noches was slowly and steadily building guild alliances against his family for some time now. It was sooner or later, they would make the first move. He was going to have to touch base with his family soon, alert them on his progress and the hairy big spider in the ointment.
Daisuke mulled over his options on how to remove the thorn that was Fairy Tail from his side. He closed his eyes, standing in the middle the rubble against the dappled sunlight. He felt the cool iciness of his magic course from the hand gripping his blade up his arm and into his heart.
A low ethereal growl emerged from the deep recesses of his mind like a dormant dream.
He made for the entrance and just as he emerged, he tugged his hood down and darted stealthily around the council knights. They were too busy to notice an incredibly suspicious person such as himself skulking away. Fuck the accommodation. Now to get the hell out of this town! However he suddenly came face to face with the little girl with long blue hair in pig tails. Oh crap. That lass named Wendy.
"Umm" she began. "I overheard you talking while I was healing Lucy". She held her tiny hands together and bowed her body to a perfect ninety degrees. "Thank you so much for saving her!"
Daisuke froze. He didn't really know what he should do…
"Wendy! Hurry up!" came the shrill yell of the flying cat that had garnered much of his interest.
"Yes Charles! Umm…We should hurry back" Wendy gently tugged on his cloak.
Daisuke sighed. There went his plans for nicking off.
Lahar ticked off the final Blackheath mage being frogmarched into the prison carriage. They were already in pretty bad shape since Fairy Tail mostly took care of the hard work. He pushed his spectacles further up his nose.
"Casualty report on the enemy?" he commanded a nearby knight.
"Eight wounded and three suicides, sir!" he saluted.
This was the fourth attack in six months, both targeting town libraries. Experience told him that there was no indication to say where the next target would be. Could they guess it will be another town library? He couldn't say for sure, but this was reflecting too much of the burning Zentopian churches from last time, so possibly.
"Lahar, we've got a possible lead on solving these strings of operation" said Doranbolt as he approached.
"Go on"
"Well, one of the members of Blackheath killed himself while being interrogated by our knights. He yelled 'All hail Las Noches' just before activating a suicide spell".
"Las Noches? What on Earthland is that?" inquired Lahar.
"Beats me" sighed Doranbolt scratching the back of his head.
"Alright it's the only lead we got so far. Notify the Magic Intelligence Taskforce and get them on to finding out what this Las Noches is all about. We need to arrange a debrief with the Magic Council too" Lahar removed his spectacles and wiped it clean of the dirt and dust. They also needed to find a way to stop the rest of the mages from casting suicide spells before handing them over to the Interrogation Unit. The problem was, these suicide spells were fairly new and the counter-spell for that is still in-progress. There was nothing like advances in magic like those created for war and evil, which Lahar would lament from time to time.
"Right, I'll go have a word with Fairy Tail when it's settled here" said Doranbolt.
"Yes, you do that" Lahar and Doranbolt parted ways to address their duties.
"Watch your step sir!" Doranbolt side stepped just in time for the last of the Blackheath members being pushed into the prison carriage.
The bleary eyed dark guild wizard groaned and spat at the knight, earning a disgusted outcry and a whack across the face.
A loud shriek from the prison carriage distracted Lahar from his readings. He glanced over and scrunched his eyebrows as to what on Earthland was going on. From what he could see through the bars, the Blackheath wizard's eyes were darting at all angles as if desperately searching for a horrible spectre only he could see. He was also whipping his head everywhere for a deathly sound only he could hear. Lahar snapped shut his clipboard and strode over.
Terror seemed to grip the mage like no other.
"Oi, what's wrong?" asked Lahar.
The mage started to mutter rapidly under his breath, eyes still looking around wildly for his invisible nightmare. Lahar had to lean in closer to catch anything coherent from the mage.
"It w-will tell them, it will tell th-them! It will tell…HIM! AAIIIGGGHHH!"
The rune knight officer, threw his head back to escape a strand of saliva propelling from between the bars. He tsked and re-aligned his glasses, about to dismiss it as gibberish when the whole carriage shook with bellowing and yelling. He stepped back a few paces with absolute caution in case the captive mages pulled something funny, but quickly realised it wasn't a ruse of any kind. Whatever fear that Blackheath mage had was genuine, utterly contagious and full of madness.
Lahar spun around and searched for what could have possible evoked this fear pandemic in the carriage.
'All I can see is rubble, ash and shadows and all I can hear are my knights' he thought.
"GET US OUT OF HERE HYUUK! GET US AWAY FROM THIS PLACE, Hurry please!" the mage banged insanely against the bars of the carriage.
"Sit your butt down, you mutt!" yelled one of the knights who came over, rapping his rod against the magically enforced iron grate. It did not deter the terrified mage one bit.
"I b-beg of you… please hyuuk…!" he weeped uncontrollably. The rest of the guild members were now clutching onto each other with cuffed hands, howling.
"Our M-Master's Master… Our s-souls will…! T-The D-death G-"
THWACK! He was struck on the head through the grating and he fell back in a heap.
"What the hell is wrong with them, sir?" muttered the knight who struck him.
"I have no idea, probably just one of those Time-based Madness Spells dark guild higher-ups use to snap their wits, to stop them divulging useful information. Roll them out!" ordered Lahar.
In a last ditch attempt, the crazed mage activated the suicide spell without either Lahar or the other Rune Knight suspecting anything.
Lahar eventually did dismiss any thoughts about the crazy fear all the mages in the carriage seemed to have caught. He also dismissed the insane cryptic words the mage spewed. He also dismissed the absurdity of shadows in broad noon daylight. One thing he couldn't have seen in order to even contemplate dismissing, was a creature hidden in the suspicious shadows. Shadows where it shouldn't be. A creature only the Blackheath mage could see, eliciting a haunting chitter only the Blackheath mage could hear.
Unbeknownst to Lahar, such a creature did exist. It possessed the face of a grinning petrified skull and a gaping void where its heart should be. Such a notion would liken itself to that of death.
Daisuke reluctantly paid for another two nights of accommodation, which he lied about, to that woman named Mirajane. She looked surprised to see him back at the guild and even more surprised to see he was with that little lass named Wendy.
"I hope you weren't caught up in the act near the library" said Mirajane.
"I obviously was. I told you yesterday I was heading to the library didn't I?" snapped Daisuke. He was peeved that he was back at Fairy Tail.
"What do you mean Master isn't here, Macau!" He could hear that mage named Erza groaning.
The middle-aged man named Macau held up his hands in defense at the annoyed red headed mage. "Master had already left at the break of dawn to attend the monthly Guild Masters' conference in Clover town"
"I didn't even notice. When will he be back?" sighed Erza.
"He should be back this evening", interjected another man who looked like he belonged in the same age generation with the first man.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm super thirsty after some butt-kicking today. Hey Mira! How about some shots for everybody!" said a scantily dressed mage sitting coolly on a large barrel. Her long chestnut brown hair tumbled from her shoulders as she threw her head back and laughed. Daisuke wondered if it was normal for female mages to wear such revealing clothing in Fiore, but then again, the young male mages here were also dressed quite liberally... What an interesting culture.
"We're out of shots Cana. But I still have Mojitos" sang that Mirajane hostess from the bar.
"I don't want any fancy schmancy cocktail. Just give us a round of ale then!" yelled back the mage named Cana.
The bar hostess just smiled, preparing the ale. Daisuke was feeling a bit weary from all the commotion this morning. Not so much as weariness from strength and magic power, but more like brain power. There were more information he needed to process to develop a new plan of action. He could only do that if he had peace and quiet, so he opted that being away from Fairy Tail mages was the best option.
"I'll be heading up to my room now. Is it okay if I receive lunch upstairs? I wish to be undisturbed" said Daisuke to the bar hostess.
"Sure" she replied.
"Hey you," he could feel the ice mage approaching. Great. What now?
"Daisuke was it? You know anything about the hounds that attacked the town library?" Gray leveled a cautious look at Daisuke.
"What makes you think I know anything of the sort? I'm new here"
"Oh I don't know. A strange foreign traveler suddenly shows up and the next day there is a Dark-Guild-attack at the very place you were hanging out this morning?"
Daisuke held up a hand to appease the brewing magic of the ice user. He could feel his tongue sharpening itself to retaliate, but held back. He guessed the ice mage Gray had every right to be suspicious. He would be too in his shoes. Daisuke watched him cross his muscled arms across his bare chest. This mage had a habit of loosing his attire without even realising which piqued Daisuke's curiosity. The amount of reminders from the red headed woman and the utter shock on his face when he couldn't find his shirt told him it was an involuntary habit. Surely this couldn't be normal...
"If it will put your mind at rest, I know nothing about the people who attacked. I was caught off guard just as much as your town was"
"I don't buy it"
"Oi, hold up Ice Queer! This guy saved Lucy" the fire mage named Natsu stepped towards them from Daisuke's side. "If he was part of this attack, why would he put his own life on the line for her?"
Gray pulled a disgusted face and unfurled his arms, tensing them up in front of himself as if ready to through a left hook. Fire and ice definitely didn't mix and Daisuke wanted to just slap both of them across the back of the head to get them to stop throwing up a magic turbulence around them because it was attracting too much... oh... no one was paying attention. Was this a normal occurrence too?
'I wasn't really risking my life…'
"Want a go at me Smoked Chicken?" Gray growled at Natsu.
"Let's have it now Frost face!"
"Settle down you too! There has been enough blood shed in one day!" yelled Erza from across the guild hall.
"A-Aye sir!" They sure changed their tune quite quickly.
Daisuke took advantage of the conversational tangent to take a few steps back, looking for a way to go upstairs unnoticed. He gulped at the oppressive magic the red headed mage was forcing upon those two. This was a woman in the driver's seat of the carriage. She was scary and had them in her iron-clad fist. Daisuke would pray for them, but no, he was disinclined to.
"Where do you think you're going Daisuke?" Erza turned her attention to Daisuke.
Daisuke halted in his steps and turned back to her. "Please excuse me, I'm feeling tired and need to deposit my things and have lunch upstairs."
"Nonsense. You can have lunch downstairs with the rest of us. We are really grateful for you saving Lucy, but Gray is right. You seem suspicious. I've got a few questions to ask of you"
Daisuke sighed in defeat. She couldn't have been more blunt. He should have heeded the gossip back in Port Hargeon and stay clear of Fairy Tail in Magnolia Town. Blast the humid rain on that night!
"Lunch is my treat"
"Eh, lunch is complimentary in the accommodation price" called out Mirajane.
"Hmm, in that case, cake is my treat"
Daisuke sighed in defeat, giving the red-head a nod and grabbed his key from Mirajane. He went upstairs to dump his things, making sure the parchment from his knapsack is placed under the mattress for safety. Daisuke locked the door before exiting and leaving the upstairs corridor. He looked down and suddenly realised how massive the guild hall really was. It could probably house a small concert with some room to spare. His gaze followed the many different types of wizards occupying the tables and spotted the scarlet haired woman walking back over to a particular table and continued conversing with an ogre of a man. That man was huge! He looked like something his family hunted in his home country. He was spouting some jibberish about masculinity...
The silver haired boy finally took a seat beside the one called Erza and a plate of meat and potatoes was placed in front of him. Did they have any rice, he wondered. That was alright, he something like this in other Fiorean taverns and inns before.
"So tell me where you hail from, Daisuke Hitsugaya" began Erza.
The ice mage approached and placed his hand on the table, leaning threateningly towards Daisuke. "How about we start with-" Erza held up her hand to silence Gray.
He slowly chewed on a piece of meat and felt awkward to see so many eyes trained on him. Including the flying cats.
"I'm from the Far-East"
"Oh! you're from Pergrande Kingdom?" asked a petite light blue-haired girl. He looked to his left as she plopped herself into the empty seat beside him. She was a bit shorter than him and her hair was very tousled, so much so that she had to wear a colourful bandana across her hair to tame those wavy locks. Her eyes were big and brown as she gazed at him in interest. This blue-haired girl had an intelligent looking face.
"No, just past that, from Vana'diel" replied Daisuke, moving onto the potatoes. It was seasoned really nicely. He wondered where he could find the spices to bring back home when all this was over. It was delicious. His ears pricked up to hear a few confused mumbling and mutters. Was there something wrong?
"What..." he tipped is head to the side.
"Sorry… where did you say you're from?" The blue haired girl tapped a finger on her chin. He could see the gears in her brain straining very hard to comprehend what he had just said.
"Umm, you know... Vana'diel… Don't you?" he quirked a brow.
More puzzled looks. They haven't heard of his home country before? He dropped his potato back on the plate and wiped his fingers with the napkin. "Do you keep a map of Earthland here?"
"We have one in the library, let me get that for you" offered Mirajane
"Oh! Freed and I placed it in the box marked 'Atlas' on top of the first shelf on the right" called out the blue-haired girl.
The bar hostess disappeared for a moment and came back with a large rolled up parchment and brought it over to the table. Daisuke cleared a space and she unfurled it in front of him. He choked on his potatoes that was still in his mouth.
"What the hell? Don't you have a recent map of the world?"
All the countries on the Western peninsula were labelled neatly and nicely: Bosco, Iceberg, Seven, The Land of Isvan, Principality of Veronica, Minstrel and many others. The capital cities stood out over the smaller circles of the lesser well known townships. But all the lands outlined beyond the Pergrande Kingdom were washed over in grey ink. The tell-tale signs for 'unexplored lands'. Bloody hell, these twats of Fiore…
"Hey! Men shouldn't be rude to my sister! That isn't manly at all!" Bellowed the ogre man.
"Excuse me but, this is a recent map of the world" Mirajane said in what could be mistaken as a patronising tone.
Daisuke sighed for the umpteenth time. He couldn't be fucked going back upstairs to retrieve his version of the map of Earthland which was hand drawn by the family cartographer. He reached into his innermost jerkin pocket and pulled out his charcoal pencil. He proceeded to sketch lines and curves with superb accuracy against the thick parchment map.
"W-What are you doing?! Hey!" the blue-haired girl stuttered.
"...Updating your map" he drawled. Daisuke delicately drew out each and every jagged line and curve exactly as he remembered from his map, to scale.
Daisuke wondered how the hell the people of Fiore had never heard of Vana'diel? Did he miss something gravely important about them before he crossed the other countries to get here? Sure their countries were like a couple of medium sized countries apart, but still... After a few moments of concentration and trying to block out those annoying incredulous gasping, he leaned back to observe his handiwork. Fairy Tail's map was sporting a new country to the side, sectioned off in five parts with dotted lines. He had drawn four more countries around, with parts falling off the edge of the map, so to speak. The map was looking fuller and he smiled at the accuracy of his cartographic skills. He earned himself a mental hi-five. He had labelled the five extra countries along with their states on the grey bits and circled the name of his home country. The biggest nation of them all.
Vana'diel.
Took a little trip down memory lane with this chapter :3 So now we know where Daisuke comes from and its a country that Fairy Tail or the rest of Fiore has never heard of before because it's too far East and not even labelled on the map! I wonder why that could be? Now we know he's an ice-user too, which probably shouldn't have been too hard to figure out :)
Next stop? Why has he traveled all this way to Magnolia... and who the hell are Las Noches...
Let me know what you guys think, I'd love to hear from you! Until next time, keep being awesome and I'll see you in 7 days.
Signing-off
-TripWire-dono
